ACLS and PALS courses

[your mom]

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Could someone tell me if it is common for residency programs to not pay for ACLS/PALS courses for their new house officers....Thanks!!

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Could someone tell me if it is common for residency programs to not pay for ACLS/PALS courses for their new house officers....Thanks!!

I expect that most programs will include BLS/ACLS/PALS/etc as part of their training. You'll probably get BLS at orientation, then the rest during your residency. Since PGY-1's usually don't run codes, often the ACLS and more advanced stuff happens at the end of the PGY-1 so you're ready for PGY-2.

 

[your mom]

nah this program is making u pay for it before pgy-1 starts...which seems odd to me since in the union terms up into 2009, states it should be completely paid for....in our new contract they have in parenthesis that we are getting it "at a substantial discount" as if they are preparing for an argument...if it wasnt for that statement i probs wouldnt have even second guessed it....just was curious what people on here had experienced....thanks again

 

[Blade28]

We didn't need ACLS certification before residency. We DID need ATLS, and that was paid for.

 

[Winged Scapula]

I had ACLS and ATLS paid for by my residency. Recerts were paid for as well.

I took ACLS before residency started, as it was offered during orientation and was required as a condition of employment for surgery residents. I didn't do ATLS until October of my intern year (which was a violation) because they changed the date at the last minute on me and I was out of the country, so took it at the first time available.

Is your residency program at a large university hospital? If so, I would expect them to pay for it because its generally offered hospital wide. If your hospital does not offer it, and you have to go elsewhere it can be upwards of $300 for ACLS alone if you have not certified before. You may get a discount but generally hospitals that teach ACLS do not charge their residents for it if it is a condition of employment.

 

[Faebinder]

ACLS and ATLS was paid for in our program... you needed to have both prior to residency. Likewise for the obgyn version and PALS and NALS. It seems to be an institution policy.

If you wake up tomorrow and your institution decides that you are responsible for ACLS and all residents need to be ACLS certified.... then you cant do anything about it unless you plan on making it a quiting point.

 

[Gas4Life]

Our program paid for all our certification courses that we wanted to take. I took BLS (Basic Life Support), ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support), PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support), ALSO (Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics), ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support), and NRP (Neonatal Resuscitation Protocol, formerly known as NALS or Neonatal Advanced Life Support). I think that is every one that is offered.

 

[novado]

I am at a large university program (not Nova), and they did not pay for ACLS, PALS, or BLS. Their medical school offers the course for free to their fourth year medical students. Fortunately, my school also offered it for free when I was in med school. I found that while interviewing that is what held true. If the affiliated med school offered it for free to their fourth years, they would not pay for it. All the affiliated residencies at my school, (last I was informed) would not pay for the required ACLS, PALS, BLS.

 

[your mom]

thanks for the replys everybody, at least im getting it at a discount....it could be worse, thanks again